Not The Jersey Shore

I strongly believe in the saying "Write what you know."  And that is just what I did in writing my novel. I grew up in New Jersey in an Italian-American family and so the family of my novel is Italian-American and the setting is New Jersey.  And although the characters are Italian-American and from New Jersey, they are much different than the cast of Jersey Shore or The Sopranos.  Like many other Italian-Americans that come from the great state of New Jersey, I am tired of the negative stereotypical conceptions of us, as gangsters and morons, that have been created and nurtured by the media.

The Greco family are all highly educated for one thing.  There is no mob affiliations here!  In fact, Vince, the youngest child, is so politically correct that he won't set foot in the WalMart because he does not agree with their politics.  The patriarch of the family, Frank, works as a courtroom judge.  The matriarch is a college professor.  The oldest son, Cosmo, studied astronomy at an Ivy League school. And the main character, Silvia, studied painting in art school which she attended on a full scholarship.

All in all, they are a lovable, quirky bunch of characters, all very unique and distinct from each other and all very different from how we are used to seeing Italian-Americans depicted.

Humor in Serious Fiction

All of my favorite writers have one thing in common: Their use of humor.  Flannery O'Connor's use of black humor adds greatly to adds to the characterization and the setting in her stories. Another one of my writers is Nathanael West also employs a similar sort of dark and demented humor in his stories.  Most people would agree with me that the John Kennedy Toole novel A Confederacy of Dunces is a work of comic genius.  I also admire the dry and witty humor of the science fiction writer, Douglas Adams.  Although the humor in the works of these latter two writers is much more accessible and apparent than the former, they all have made me, at one time or another, laugh out loud. And I have learned greatly from all of these writers in how to employ humor in fiction.

When I began writing my novel, I did not intend for it to be funny, but when I read my first chapter to a group of fellow writers, I was delighted to find them laughing out loud at certain lines and or situations that I had written.  I was also delighted when I my book got several reviews claiming that it was very humorous.  I believe that the use of humor in fiction is a great tool, and not just for the sake of being entertaining, but also for the sake of driving a point home without sounding didactic or overly moralistic.  I also believe that it's the sheer honesty of good humor that can really make an impression on people.  If someone is genuinely funny, they are not afraid to say what they see.  There are no pretensions.  There are no lies.

In terms of character development, it is the funny quirks about characters that make them more real, more believable and more lovable.  Vince believes that the recent preponderance of books about war is a government conspiracy.  As a lawyer, Frank bartered with clients who could not make their whole legal fee. Angie is obsessed by the fact that she lives in the very same neighborhood as Bruce Springsteen and is determined to find his house.  Donna is constantly plagued by some new self-diagnosed ailment that keeps her following one trend diet after another.

Humor can really enhance dialogue.  Cosmo tells Silvia that she would have better luck making peace in the Middle East than within their family.  Frank finishes his monologue of complaints with the phrase "I can't complain."  And last but not least, humor greatly adds to the fun of story.  Silvia listens to her boss, a full grown man, rant on about the importance of Gummy Bears.  Donna is sexually harassed by the Three Little Pigs at Disney World.  What fun! 

Below is a wonderful article on the effective use of humor in fiction.  Check  out!

http://www.storyinliteraryfiction.com/essays-on-writing/how-humor-works-in-literary-fiction/

This Tale Grew Into Telling

The quote above from J.R.R. Tolkien resonated so much with me because I felt that it really spoke of my own process for writing my novel. My novel began with a description of a single character that I subsequently incorporated into a short story, which I shared with a writing group of which I belong.  My writing group responded very positively to the piece and a couple of the members encouraged me to make it into something longer. The story had only two characters- a young woman and her father- and for the story to grow into a novel, it seemed logical to make it into a family saga.

I wanted the book to have a of which I felt passionate, something that could sustain me all the way through to the completion of the novel.  Peace was the obvious choice as I am a passionate anti-war activist, and as it would be a theme that I could easily illustrate through a family story.  I am from a large family that has always been heavily involved in fighting, and the disharmony that exist within my own family is something that I always wanted to change.  I wanted to have a subplot in the story because I believe that having a subplot can greatly reinforce the theme of the book. I knew that to make this subplot work with the larger plot that it would have to be relevant to the stories theme which is peace.  The protagonist of the novel, Silvia, is a very restless young woman who is unable to stay in one place longer than a few months.  When she realizes that there is a connection between her own internal restlessness and her growing up in a chaotic, fight-filled household, her objective of creating peace in her family takes on a greater significance.

So I had a theme, a general plot and subplot, the main characters and a setting.  I now needed to develop a structure.  I got a copy of a book that I truly love called The Night-Time Novelist http://www.nighttimenovelist.com/  This book caters to all of us who are not in creative writing programs and who need to work day jobs, and is loaded with very helpful, concrete instruction on the craft of writing a novel that follows the three-act dramatic structure.  I really like following this traditional structure and believe that novels that follow this sort of structure are much more accessible than non-traditionally structured novels.  The outline I created for my book followed this three-act structure, although I was careful not to make my outline too tightly structured, and to allow myself to deviate from it, thereby giving the story room to grow organically.

Welcome!

When I was ten years old, I wrote my first story.  It was called The Gates of Utica and I was inspired to write it during a trip to upstate New York with my mom.  I knew then that I wanted to be a writer; that I wanted to tell stories and make people laugh and cry and think; that I wanted to use words to paint pictures and make music.

I just completed my first novel which is entitled Olive Branches Don't Grow On Trees.  It is the story of a twenty-three year old girl named Silvia Greco who decides to make peace in her constantly feuding family.  It takes place in New Jersey and is set in the present against the back drop of the current wars. Throughout the course of the story, Silvia learns that peace is not something that is freely existing, but that rather, it is something that needs to be created, cultivated and nurtured.  This book is filled with lovable characters, humor and insight. You can buy it as a Kindle e-book on Amazon for $1.99 (cheap) and $8.95 in paperback (still pretty darn cheap). It will also be available in print format on Amazon shortly.  You can also check out the first chapter on my website: http://olivebranchesdontgrowontrees.com/

This is the first of many posts in which I will be sharing the various insights about the writing process that I have gained from completing this book.  I also want to share recipes for many of the delectable dishes that are mentioned in my novel.  Because the book is about an Italian-American family, food is a central part of it, and so there are several references to yummy Italian dishes. I am delighted to say that the recipes for these dishes will be shared in this blog.

Hope that you enjoy reading and will return often!